Some optically active 3-hydroxypiperidinecarboxylate esters are useful intermediates in the synthesis of interesting pharmaceutical agents.
In general, optically active hydroxyl compounds may be obtained by resolution of the corresponding racemate by known chemical or enzymatic methods. These resolutions have many drawbacks such as, for instance, the yield of the desired enantiomer which of course cannot be more that 50% of the starting racemate compound.